Method of and apparatus for casting armor-plates.



'L. GATHMANN, DECD..

0. G. FOLEY, ADMINISTRATRIX. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING ARMOR PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED 8.15.1916.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

, 3. H [TS-SHEET I.

L. GATHMANN, DECD.

o. a. FOLEY. ADMINlSTRATRIX.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING ARMOR PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.15, 1916.

1,276,517. Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

L. GATHMANN, DECD.

0. e. TOLEY. ADMTNISTRATRIX.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING ARMOR PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15, I916.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WJI HJ carton.

LOUIS GATHMANN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; OLGA GATHMANN FOLEY, ADMIN'ISTRATBIX OF SAID LOUIS GATHMANN, DECEASED.

hereon.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2o, 1.91s.

I Application filed February 15; 1916. Serial H0. 78,434.

T 0 all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS GATHMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Casting Armor-Plates, of which the following is a specification.

The special object of the invention is to provide efiicient means for producing armor plate of such nature as to resist the action of armor piercing and high explosive shells, and more specifically to produce armor plate of the kind shown in my Patent No. 1,174,707, of Mar. 7, 1916. Said patent shows armor plate provided with chambers which serve to deflect the course of projectiles and thus reduce their efficiency.

According to the present invention, a mold of novel construction is employed, and novel means are used for molding armor plate of the kind above mentioned in such manner as to produce homogeneous or sound cast- Fhe mold is made in sections so that the casting when cooled may be readily removed from the mold, which latter is equipped with a plurality of horizontally arranged hollow cores which are so held in the mold sections when said sections are assembled that they will resist the weight of metal poured into the mold and the arrangement is also such that when the mold sections are separated they will be withdrawn from the cores which ma remain in the casting.

'l he hollow cores extend through the walls of the mold so that cooling and heating means may be introduced respectively at the lower and upper portions of the mold. Preferably the walls of the mold are made thicker or heavier in their lower portion than at their upper part for the purpose of cooling the lower portion of the casting more rapidly than the upper part thereof.

The invention involves improvements not only in the construction of the mold but in a method of casting consisting in'causing a cooling medium to pass horizontally through the lower portion of the molten metal While being cast and a heatingmedium to be passed horizontally through the u per portion of said body of metal while so 'difymg.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the 1nventi0n:-

Figure 1 is a view mainly in elevation but with parts broken away to illustrate details of construction.

Fig. 2 shows a vertical section of the mold on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are views of the mold sections employed.

Fig. 7 is a detail view, showing how the tubular cores may be supported in the mold sections.

The mold 8 shown may be either top poured or bottom poured. The several sections are preferably made of cast iron which rest on a stool B. A hood or feeder C rests on the walls of the mold and may be held in place by wedges D, similar wedges being employed to attach the mold sections to the stoo As illustrated more particularly in Figs. 3-6 the mold is made in sections G, H and I, and these sections are recessed in the manner shown particularly in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, to receive horizontally arranged hollow cores or tubes F. When the cores are in place and the mold sections are assembled and held by the wedges before described the mold sections are held firmly in position in the manner indicated in Fig. 7. It will be observed, by reference to Fig. 1, that the tubular cores are open at their ends so that air may pass through the cores. It will also be apparent that after a casting is made the hollow cores will remain in the'casting while the mold sections may be withdrawn or separated from the cores. As illustrated particularly in Fig. 2 the mold walls are made thicker or heavier in their lower portions than in their upper parts in order to cool the lower portions of the casting more rapidly than the upper portions in a manner now well known in this art. Preferably as shown the tubular cores are made larger in diameter in the lower portion of the mold than in the upper portion-thereof for the purpose of causing the metal to solidify more rapidly in the lowerportion of the mold than in the upper art thereof.

In order to promote t e operation means are provided for introducing a cooling medium in the hollow cores in the lower portion of the mold and a heating medium in the hollow cores in the upper portion thereof. For this purpose perforated pipes P are employed which may convey a cooling gas or other cooling medium from a suitable source of supply controlled by valves or other suitable mechanism, and a suitable heating medium may be supplied in like manner. In this way the manner in which the molten metal freezes or solidifies may be so controlled that sound, homogeneous castings' may be produced which shall have chambers of the character before mentioned and for the purposes previously specified.

What is claimed herein as my invention is: 1. The method herein described of casting armor plates, which consists in pouring molten metal into a mold and in causing a cooling medium to pass horizontally through the lower portion only of the molten metal while it is solidifying. 2. The hereindescribed methodof casting which consists in pouring molten metal into a mold, in causingn cooling medium to pass horizontally through-the lower portion of the molten metal while it is solid1fying,and,

ity of hollow cores and means for supplying a cooling medium to some of said cores and a heating medium to others.

6. A metallic mold, made in sections and provided with horizontally arranged hollow cores supported by the sections when the latter are assembled but separable therefrom when the sections are withdrawn from each other. y

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LOUIS GATHMANN. 

